This NFL Player is Now an FA Where He Used to be a Client

A former first-round NFL draft pick has come out of semi-retirement to join Surevest Wealth Management as an investment advisor, the company says.

Levi Brown was the fifth overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft when he was chosen by the Arizona Cardinals from Penn State, Surevest says in a press release.

His six-year, $62 million contract was one of the largest for an offensive lineman in the league’s history at the time, Surevest claims.

Brown semi-retired at the age of 29 after seven years with the NFL, according to the press release.

Well aware that the acronym NFL stands for “Not for Long” — ESPN found that 78% of NFL players go bankrupt or experience financial stress within two years of retirement — Brown continued his education, eventually earning his third college degree from Penn State, and worked with Surevest CEO Robert Luna for a decade, the company says.

He’s now working on an MBA in behavioral finance at Creighton University, according to the press release. And after three years in semi-retirement, Brown has opted to apply his skills at Surevest, the company says.

He will oversee a team of CFPs and CFAs working with clients who’ve experienced new wealth, according to Surevest’s press release.

“There is no substitute for having walked in the shoes of another human being. While I was able to help create a financial path for Levi and his family, it was Levi and his wife, Lynnette, who made sure that they never veered away from the plan,” Luna says in the press release.

“Having made disciplined choices, they placed their family in a very enviable financial position. We look forward to having a behavioral finance specialist on our team to help not only people encountering sudden wealth events, but any of our clients who sometimes have a hard time separating their emotions from their finances.”